[jdwalton19]

Does/has anyone here work(ed) for the DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency)? They just announced an entry level auditor position close to my home, but I haven’t been able to find much current information regarding the agency. Anyone have any thoughts, opinions, experiences regarding the work?

FAR - MAY - 84
AUD - AUG - 88
REG - AUG - 92
BEC - Dec - 82

KY Licensed!

Yaeger

[msgolds]

I'm ex-DCAA. I can go over some pros and cons with you.

Pros:

1) The training program is fantastic; one of the best I have ever seen. The agency sets out a general training plan for you, and also allows you to plan specific trainings that will help you along your chosen career path. The agency also opts for a sense of consistency; you will typically be in the same group for most of your trainings, so you wind up growing pretty close with those people.

2) The knowledge you will pick up in government contract accounting is extremely valuable, and can advance your career in a number of ways. People I have worked with have advanced up the DCAA ladder, taken contract administration jobs within the federal government and the private sector, moved on to Accounting roles at government contractors, and became government contract compliance consultants. In my case, I am currently in a consulting role where I implement new accounting systems for government contractors. My DCAA experience gave me a ton of hands-on knowledge, experience with many different accounting systems, and many of my clients have told me that it gives me credibility.

3) The work-life balance is fantastic. You will never find a place in the private sector that more-or-less guarantees you a 40-hour work-week year-round. There are options for flexible schedules, telework, etc.

4) The first several years, you move up the ladder quickly. You can hit a GS-12 within three years if you start as a GS-7.

Cons:

1) The agency is struggling right now to simultaneously meet the rigid quality standards put out by the GAO, and to put out timely audits. You can expect to do a lot of work that would be considered unnecessary or redundant by public accounting standards. It is not uncommon for your audits to sit in working paper limbo for months as they go through multiple levels of review. It is not unusual for a large audit to take one of two years.

2) The reason for this is many of the prior audits (especially pre-2009) were of an extremely poor quality. When performing Audits, you very often will need to start from scratch, because you cannot rely on prior Audits. There were times when I found some very blatant noncompliances which had been going on for years and never been caught before.

3) There is a ton of bureaucracy and resistance to change. For example, they have an online system where you can issue suggestions for process improvements. There is a certain Metric that is used very commonly in assessing Audit risk. I noticed that different offices were calculating this Metric differently, which led to inconsistencies in risk assessment. I placed a suggestion that standard guidance and a training was created that clearly explained across all offices how the calculation was to be done; which several supervisors agreed would have been helpful to have. It was six months before I received a response, and the woman immediately shot my suggestion down without even considering it.

4) Once you hit 12, you start to plateau. It becomes very competitive when applying for management / tech spec positions to advance your career. Also, many of the GS-12s have questionable competency.

All-in-all, you will be able to gain a ton of value for your career by working for DCAA.

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[jdwalton19]

@ msgolds – Thanks for the reply! Does the DCAA audit companies with smaller contracts or only the larger multi-million (billion) ones? Just curious as I am a federal employe and at my organization, we have multiple ~$1m contracts, but I have never heard of the DCAA coming in and doing an audit.

FAR - MAY - 84
AUD - AUG - 88
REG - AUG - 92
BEC - Dec - 82

KY Licensed!

Yaeger

[jdwalton19]

@ msgolds – Thanks for the reply! Does the DCAA audit companies with smaller contracts or only the larger multi-million (billion) ones? Just curious as I am a federal employe and at my organization, we have multiple ~$1m contracts, but I have never heard of the DCAA coming in and doing an audit.

FAR - MAY - 84
AUD - AUG - 88
REG - AUG - 92
BEC - Dec - 82

KY Licensed!

Yaeger

[msgolds]

The answer to your question is yes and no. DCAA has mobile offices who focus on small contractors ($1,000,000 or less). I know I audited a few companies of that variety. But it is becoming less and less coming because of their audit backlog. Many small companies are going to go unaudited, and more and more contracting officers are opting for quick close-out when the risk is really low.

Further, many non-DOD agencies are not relying on DCAA anymore. For example, the Department of Energy utilizes KPMG to perform their DCAA-type audits (that was actually my first role after I left DCAA).

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[msgolds]

The answer to your question is yes and no. DCAA has mobile offices who focus on small contractors ($1,000,000 or less). I know I audited a few companies of that variety. But it is becoming less and less coming because of their audit backlog. Many small companies are going to go unaudited, and more and more contracting officers are opting for quick close-out when the risk is really low.

Further, many non-DOD agencies are not relying on DCAA anymore. For example, the Department of Energy utilizes KPMG to perform their DCAA-type audits (that was actually my first role after I left DCAA).

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[mla1169]

I have worked in industry only and can tell you what I have seen. I have also gone to FAR Training for contractors. The first consideration is how the contract is awarded-contracts that are sole source are more likely to get DCAA attention than competitive bids that come in with lowest price and best delivery. Then you've got the TINA threshold of $750k for providing cost and pricing analysis. I worked for a huge contractor that only saw DCAA once every 3 years or so, The govt would hold back 15% of our contracts until DCAA approved our overhead rates then they'd release a huge check for 2 years of hold backs. When a contract was sole sourced (not often then and probably unheard of now) I was tight with DCAA. In 4 years at that company I worked with DCAA three times. When I went to a smaller company we only subcontracted and our customers audited us, DCAA just had to approve our ERP system.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[mla1169]

I have worked in industry only and can tell you what I have seen. I have also gone to FAR Training for contractors. The first consideration is how the contract is awarded-contracts that are sole source are more likely to get DCAA attention than competitive bids that come in with lowest price and best delivery. Then you've got the TINA threshold of $750k for providing cost and pricing analysis. I worked for a huge contractor that only saw DCAA once every 3 years or so, The govt would hold back 15% of our contracts until DCAA approved our overhead rates then they'd release a huge check for 2 years of hold backs. When a contract was sole sourced (not often then and probably unheard of now) I was tight with DCAA. In 4 years at that company I worked with DCAA three times. When I went to a smaller company we only subcontracted and our customers audited us, DCAA just had to approve our ERP system.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[msgolds]

@mla, chances are they wouldn't even do that anymore. I do ERP Implementations, and many of my clients have never had a pre-award audit, nor do they have any idea about whether they will be getting one at any point in the near future. Many contracting officers have stopped requesting them because they unreasonably delay contract awards.

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[msgolds]

@mla, chances are they wouldn't even do that anymore. I do ERP Implementations, and many of my clients have never had a pre-award audit, nor do they have any idea about whether they will be getting one at any point in the near future. Many contracting officers have stopped requesting them because they unreasonably delay contract awards.

BEC - 90 PASSED
FAR - 84 PASSED
AUD - 93 PASSED
REG - 84 PASSED

I DID IT!!!!

Using Becker Self-Study

"If we were put here to carry a great weight, then the very things we hate are here to build those muscles."

[Author]

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